What do patients rate as most important when cared for in ICU

International Conference on Nursing & Emergency Medicine

December 02-04, 2013 Hampton Inn Tropicana, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Ingrid Wahlin

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Intensive care patients often experience powerlessness, vulnerability, anxiety and internal stress. Experiences from intensive care time have proved to be very important for the patient's psychological well-being, not just during the time intensive, but also long after the physical recovery. Staff attitudes and treatment has been shown to affect critical care patient comfort and recovery. In a previous study, ICU patients' described their experiences when been cared for in ICU, especially what made them feel empowered, defined as experiencing increased inner strength and power. All what patients in this study mentioned as important, has been transformed into 27 items in a questionnaire. Preliminary results about what patients experience as more respectively less important, during their ICU stay will be presented.

Biography :

Ingrid Wahlin has about 25 years of experience in intensive care nursing. She has worked with caring improvement and development for several years and is currently sharing her time between being a research supervisor in Kalmar County Consil and a head nurse in the intensive care unit at Kalmar County Hospital in Sweden. She completed her Ph.D. in 2009 from Linköping University. Her research focuses on how patients and their families can be strengthened when a family member get critical ill and need intensive care.